Arcane Heir: History's Strongest Mage

Michael felt his mood lifted by the time they made their way to the great hall for lunch. There was nothing more uplifting than great food when one was feeling sorry for themselves.

As he wielded his cutlery and cut into a perfectly cooked medium rare steak, all of his worries seemed to disappear. At least that was until Melody spoke up next to him.

"I'm worried about the combat exam…" she said, head lowered slightly.

Michael's fork paused before he could take a bite, his expression turning dull.

Just when I started to feel carefree… he thought, sighing inwardly.

"You've got us as teammates, don't worry about it." Rudy replied between mouthfuls, clearly not anxious at all.

However, Melody shot him a glare, "Even though it's a team exam, we're still evaluated individually…"

"Have you tried the combat technique since… you know." Michael asked, looking around slightly. If it had improved both Rudy and Melody's command over their own mana, it should also make using the technique professor Quinn taught them easier to use.

"Ah, no I haven't." She admitted, her expression lighting up slightly. "But the exam is after lunch, I won't have time to test it out before then."

Like this, her face appeared troubled once more.

"I'm sure it will be fine," he said, collecting his fork once more.

Just as he was about to take his first bite of steak, Melody stood up swiftly—startling him. His hand lost grip of the fork, causing the utensil to fall to the ground, along with the juicy steak attached to it.

"I'm going to go practice the technique," she said with a look of determination.

Michael swallowed down his irritation and picked up his fork from the ground. "So go, why are you telling us?"

However, Melody puffed out her cheeks in response. "I thought you would offer to join me?" she said with some annoyance.

"Mmmph, hell no." Rudy replied, his mouth full of food.

"Melody, I haven't eaten yet…" Michael said with a sigh, his stomach growling.

But the blue-haired girl stomped her foot in defiance, "You, dung-head." She said, pointing to Rudy across the table. "How many times have I stayed up late and tutored your pea-brain this semester? You dare knock me back when I ask for one favor?"

Rudy raised his gaze, showing some discomfort.

"And you…" she said, pointing to Michael beside her, "I tutored you for three years back when you didn't know diddly-squat. Do you think you can just ignore me in my time of need?"

Michael grumbled, matching frequencies with his empty stomach for a moment. The girl had a point, though he'd essentially been her slave for three years during that time.

However, that was not of Melody's choosing, but his own. Therefore he was too embarrassed to bring this up in front of her—let alone in public.

"Argh, damn it…" he cursed, standing up to his feet. He glanced down at his perfectly cooked steak, indecision in his eyes. Eventually he huffed, grabbing the thing with his hand and taking a bite—much like one would with a hamburger.

Both Melody and Rudy stared at him blankly for a few moments. The latter looked impressed, while Melody's expression turned up slightly—as if silently judging him.

Michael ignored them. Like a barbarian, he ripped off a chunk and began to chew exaggeratedly, some annoyance in his eyes. "Alright, let's go." He said between chews.

"Good luck you two." Rudy said, returning his attention back to his own steak.

"Bullshit, you're coming too." He announced with a glare, his tone not allowing any refusal.

"But…" he said, looking between his half-eaten steak and Michael's deathly glare. After a moment of indecision he let out a growl and stood to his feet, grabbing the steak from his plate and taking a large bite.

"LETSH GOOO!" he announced with his mouth full.

Hundreds of eyes locked onto the three with varying gazes. They saw Michael and Rudy holding their steaks, eating them like barbarians alongside Melody whose face was bright red with embarrassment.

A look of regret was in her eyes as she quickly scuttled out of the great hall with her two friends in tow, chewing loudly behind her.

"Mm, this isn't half bad." Rudy commented, nudging Michael beside him.

The trio soon arrived in the empty field where the combat exam would be taking place in just over half an hours time. The two boys had finished their steak, but not before receiving a lecture from Melody about their actions.

Rudy ignored her, picking something out of his teeth as he walked down the stairs in a carefree manner. Michael too chose not to respond, allowing her voice to fade into the background.

It wasn't the first time he'd ignored her tantrums, nor would it be the last.

"Alright, there's a little over half an hour till the exam. Do you want to spar?" Rudy cracked his knuckled, limbering up his muscles as he gave a grin.

"And risk breaking my fist on your thick skull? No thank you." Melody quipped.

"Nothing wrong with having a thick skull," Rudy shrugged, "at least my brain is much better protected."

Neither Michael nor Melody could argue with this logic.

"Let's go through some of the movements professor Quinn taught us, we can test out the combat technique while we're at it." Michael suggest, getting into position.

The two nodded in agreement, following his lead. They soon broke out into the usual movements, techniques that they'd practiced for the past four months in class.

It was a series of movements incorporating punches and kicks from martial arts. After the first sequence, Michael directed them to start using the combat technique—injecting mana directly into the muscles to enhance them.

While they did this in class rather often, it was still difficult to fully master. Too much mana would result in pain and inflammation, whereas too little would have very little impact.

The trick was to find the optimal saturation of the muscles—something different for each individual and each muscle group.

The sound of displaced air echoed off the castle walls as the trio began incorporating mana into their strikes. The speed and power of their punches and kicks seemed to accelerate, giving off a vastly different air.

Since all three were performing the same movements, the person who finished first would essentially be the one who was able to best saturate their muscles with mana.

The result was a little surprising.

First place was Rudy, a forgone conclusion—especially after the effects of the soul pill had taken place. He finished a few breaths before the girl beside him.

Melody's eyes widened as she stared at her palm with shock, clearly not expecting such an improvement in so little time.

In last place, Michael finished two breaths after Melody, his brows furrowed.

What the hell…